


Worth it in the End

by StellaBGibson



Category: The Fall (TV 2013), The X-Files
Genre: Comfort, F/F, Menstruation, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:01:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29115657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellaBGibson/pseuds/StellaBGibson
Summary: Stella is sick and has to call Dana home from work to help her
Relationships: Stella Gibson & Dana Scully, Stella Gibson/Dana Scully
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	Worth it in the End

**Author's Note:**

> Brought to you by the fact that I'm currently 18 days late, DEFINITELY cannot be pregnant, and am dreading the absolute bitch of a period I'm gonna have when it gets here  
> Also P L E A S E don't judge the title I am terrible at naming my fics :(

Dana had panicked when she got Stella’s message and it had taken everything in her to remain calm as she drove home from work, breaking more than a couple of speed limits on her way. It was unlike the blonde to even admit that she wasn’t feeling well never mind ask Dana to come home because she needed help.

She unlocked the front door and pushed it open quietly but quickly, kicking her heeled boots off before going in search of her girlfriend. Finding the living room and downstairs bathroom both empty she hurried upstairs. Her concern only increased when she found the bedroom a mess.

Stella’s work clothes were abandoned in heaps on the floor while a basin lay beside the bed with a shattered glass of water beside it.

“Stella?”

She held her breath as she moved quickly towards the en-suite door, unsure of what state the blonde would be in. She was careful as she pushed the door open, it wasn’t a large room and there was every possibility that Stella would be behind it.

Dana wasn’t prepared for the sight that met her eyes as she entered the bathroom.

Stella was lying on the floor with her head tucked into her arms between the toilet and the wall, lying half on the bath mat and half on a towel. She was dressed only in her underwear, a pair of cotton briefs and a black bra with a large fluffy blanket draped over her legs but pushed down to her hips. Her face was far too pale, but she was clammy, her hairline damp. The rest of her hair was thrown back into a rushed bun in an attempt to keep it away from her face.

There was another basin on the other side of the toilet and Dana was careful not to move it as she stepped over Stella’s still form to crouch as close to her head as she could reach.

“Stel?” Dana bit back a gasp at the temperature of Stella’s skin as she brushed an errant strand of hair away from her eyes. “Stella?”

Stella groaned and forced her eyes open, taking longer than they should to focus. When they did, she blinked a few times and looked up without moving her head.

“Hey.” Dana said softly, barely containing the sheer worry in her voice. “What happened?”

“Got my period.” Stella mumbled, allowing her eyes to fall closed again.

You’re freezing, Stella.”

“I’m too hot.” Stella countered weakly. Before she could utter anything else a harsh gag caught her off guard.

Dana moved quickly, helping Stella to sit up in time to throw up into the toilet. She was careful not to touch the blonde, aware that sometimes it was the last thing anyone wanted when they were sick.

When Stella was sure she was done, she pulled the blanket around her now trembling form and moved to lean her back against the wall, holding her knees to her chest. She let her head fall to rest on her knees, taking shaky, shallow breaths.

“What can I do?” Dana asked softly. She’d never seen her girlfriend in such a state.

Stella only shook her head. Dana thought for a moment and then remembered the smashed and spilled glass of water on the bedroom floor. After making sure Stella wasn’t going to keel over or throw up, she headed downstairs to get a fresh glass.

When she returned, Stella was horizontal again, this time wrapped in the blanket up to her neck and still shivering.

“Stella, baby, we need to get you off the floor before you freeze.” The tiles were cold on her socked feet never mind Stella’s bare body, the bath mat and towel from earlier now shoved aside.

Stella pushed herself to sit up again and took a few more deep breaths. “I think I’m done.”

“I’ll help you to the bed.”

Stella let her girlfriend help her to her feet, grateful for the redhead’s steadying hands on her hips, guiding her around the broken glass.

The soft mattress was blissful as she crawled under the duvet and pulled it up to her chin, suddenly feeling the cold as she curled into a tight ball to alleviate the brutal cramps.

“Take this.” Dana placed the glass of water and a strong painkiller on the nightstand, away from the edge and set about clearing up the mess from earlier. She left the basin in place just in case but placed a towel under it to protect the floor.

Once everything was tidy, she stripped herself of her work clothes and pulled on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt before climbing onto the bed and seating herself against the headboard next to Stella.

Stella rolled over and rested her head in her girlfriend’s lap. She reluctantly allowed Dana to help her out of her bra and into a t-shirt before sinking under the covers once more.

“How often does this happen?” Dana asked once she realised that Stella wasn’t falling asleep.

Stella sighed as she felt Dana’s hands in her hair. “It used to be every month. But I was on birth control until recently.”

“You were a little pale this morning but you didn’t say you were feeling this bad.

“I was okay this morning. A bit crampy and a little bit nauseous but I thought I had a few days to go.” Stella reasoned. “Then it surprised me at work and I had to come home.”

“What exactly are your symptoms?” She wasn’t asking as a former doctor, she just wanted to know what had Stella collapsed in a heap on the bathroom floor for the better part of the morning.

“I get really truly horrendous cramps, I can feel them in my back and my thighs, too. And as you saw I get very sick. I can’t regulate my own temperature. And often I find myself unable to get off the toilet, but vomiting at the same time, hence the basin in the bathroom. I get extremely sensitive to noise and light but only sometimes end up with an actual headache. I end up very weak and dizzy and usually get to the point where I can’t hold my own weight up. The flow is absurdly heavy for the first few days, too. And I get so bloated I look pregnant. I know some of this isn’t anything abnormal, though.”

Dana sighed softly and released Stella’s hair to run a hand through it. “Has it always been this bad?”

“Not to start with. I was about thirteen when it started and then I didn’t start getting this ill until I was maybe fifteen or sixteen?” Stella shrugged.

“Have you ever seen a doctor?”

“Oh god yes.” Stella rolled her eyes at the memories. “When I was younger I spent two and a half years in agonising pain twenty four, seven, trying to convince doctors that it wasn’t muscular pain and telling them over and over again that certain birth control was out of the question for me and those I could take had no impact on the pain. I ended up living on heavy duty painkillers just so that I could function while working with an incredibly unforgiving boss. I had multiple pelvic and abdominal scans until eventually they thought it might be endometriosis and referred me for a laparoscopy. It blew my mind when I woke up in recovery and they said they didn’t find anything. They removed a cyst from one of my ovaries but other than that all was well.”

“Did the surgery help?”

“It stopped the pain. But as you can see, it did nothing to stop me from getting ill.”

Dana shuffled down until she was lying next to Stella, the blonde still curled in a ball as she snuggled in closer. “I’m sorry. And thank you.”

Stella looked into her eyes and brought a hand up to stroke her cheek. “It’ll be worth it in the end.”

She knew Stella was right. The doctors had recommended that the blonde stop taking her birth control and allow for a normal cycle before they started the IVF process. It was a small price to pay, but knowing how awful Stella was feeling and how much pain she was in made Dana’s heart clench.

“I know.”


End file.
